Telomere reduction in giant cell tumor of bone and with aging

Giant cell tumor of bone is a benign, primary skeletal neoplasm that has an unpredictable pattern of biologic aggressiveness, and cytogenetically demonstrates genetic instability by exhibiting telomeric associations. Molecular analysis of telomeres from giant cell tumor of bone demonstrated reduction of telomere length (average loss of 500 base pairs) in eight individuals when compared with their leukocyte DNA. Those tumors which exhibited telomeric associations were found to have a greater reduction in telomere length than tumors not exhibiting them. For comparison, eleven cytogenetically healthy control individuals (7 females and 4 males, age range 2 weeks to 70 years) were included in this study. They demonstrated loss of telomere size (average 40 base pairs per year) with advancing age and the greatest rate of telomere reduction was identified in the young. Thus, the functional consequences of telomere shortening in a neoplastic cell may prove fundamental to sustaining the transformed phenotype in giant cell tumor of bone.